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Woody Allen criticized for not hiring black people

Compiled by Tony Hicks

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
08/01/2014 12:38:21 PM MDT

Woody Allen has responded to accusations he won't hire black actors.

The New York Daily News recently reported that Allen's play about Harlem's Cotton Club, "Bullets Over Broadway" -- which debuts in April -- has no black gangsters, something it said Allen specifically requested, citing an anonymous source. Allen's rep told the newspaper his priority is casting "the exact appropriate person for a role regardless of race, which has never been a consideration."

The New York Observer's Roger Friedman recently asked Allen if he would ever cast someone like Viola Davis. Allen reportedly said, "Not unless I write a story that requires it. You don't hire people based on race. You hire people based on who is correct for the part. The implication is that I'm deliberately not hiring black actors, which is stupid. I cast only what's right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part."

Woody Allen speaks during the press conference of "You Will Meet a Talk Dark Stranger" presented out of competition at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2010 in Cannes. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images)

Friedman also asked Allen about his personal life.

"(Chris Rock) loved my work. When I got married to Soon-Yi, he bought me a wedding present," he said. "When I ran into him in Rome, we took him out for dinner. I'm friendly with Spike Lee. We don't socialize, but I don't socialize with anyone. I don't have white friends either."

Salon pointed out that Lee has criticized Allen for not casting black people. It reported that, in a 1987 New York Times interview, Lee said, "Woody Allen, he can do a film about Manhattan -- it's about one-half black and Hispanic -- and he doesn't have a single black person in the film."

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